This is not even a painting by Sandro Botticelli but just a drawing. And the subject is rather unsexy and unglam but it is a Botticelli and the subject is St Joseph so God forbid it should be seen in a glamorous light!
Sotheby’s London to Present
RENAISSANCE AND
BAROQUE MASTERWORKS
FROM THE COLLECTION OF
BARBARA PIASECKA JOHNSON
Sold to Benefit The Barbara Piasecka Johnson
Foundation
Including
The Only
Botticelli Drawing
To appear on the
market in 100 Years
Sandro Botticelli, Study for a seated St. Joseph,
his head resting on right hand
129 by 124 mm, est. £1-1.5 million
*************************************
Over the course of 30 years, Barbara
Piasecka Johnson (1937-2013) – art connoisseur, philanthropist and wife of
the late John Seward Johnson, heir to the Johnson and Johnson medical and
pharmaceutical firm - assembled one of the most remarkable collections of Old
Master paintings, drawings and works of art in recent times. On 9 July
2014, Sotheby’s London Evening sale of Old Master and British Paintings
will present a group of nine Renaissance and Baroque masterworks from her
Estate, led by three remarkably rare Florentine drawings, including the
only Botticelli drawing to appear on the market in a century (est. £1 – 1.5
million / HK$13 – 19.5 million*).
The proceeds of the sale,
expected to fetch over £8.6 million / HK$111.8 million, are to benefit the
Barbara Piasecka Johnson Foundation, the primary focus of which is helping
children with autism.
In addition to the Renaissance drawings, the selection
features an extraordinarily powerful depiction of The Sacrifice of Isaac
by Caravaggio’s gifted follower, Bartolomeo Cavarozzi (est. £3 – 5
million / HK$39 – 65 million) and an astonishing Madonna and Child on a
grassy bench by The Master of the Piasecka Johnson Madonna (est.
£600,000 – 800,000 / HK$7.8 – 10.4 million).
Discussing the forthcoming sale, Alex
Bell, Joint International Head and Co-Chairman of Sotheby’s Old Master
Paintings Department said: “These masterworks bear eloquent
witness to Barbara Piasecka Johnson’s trained art historian’s eye and her
unique and deeply personal aesthetic. This is particularly evident in these
three Florentine Renaissance drawings and Cavarozzi’s Sacrifice of Isaac which
is the most important and powerful Italian Caravaggesque painting to appear on
the open market in a generation.”
Andrea del Verrocchio; Drapery Study of Figure Facing Right
Andrea del Verrocchio; Drapery Study of Kneeling Figure
*Estimates do not include buyer’s premium and prices
achieved include the hammer price plus buyer’s premium
*All images by Sotheby's
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